EP Committee on Legal Affairs votes to lift immunity of controversial Romanian MEP Diana Șoșoacă

The Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament decided to lift the immunity of Romanian pro-Russian MEP Diana Șoșoacă on Thursday, April 23, according to Digi24.

The vote took place in a closed-door meeting. All but one of the 18 members of the Committee voted to lift Șoșoacă’s immunity. There was one abstention.

The Committee’s report will now go to the plenary of the European Parliament to receive the final vote in the upcoming plenary session. The report is most likely to be discussed next week.

The request to lift parliamentary immunity was made by the Romanian General Prosecutor’s Office, which initiated criminal proceedings against Diana Șoșoacă at the end of last year, accusing her of 11 offenses, including legionary propaganda, promoting the cult of war criminals, and Holocaust denial.

Diana Șoșoacă defended herself in the Committee on Legal Affairs on March 24. In a subsequent Facebook live stream, she claimed that an abuse was taking place.

“I made it very clear that it is an abuse and a precedent for them and for anyone who will have problems with the power [government]. I presented pretty much everything that happened in Romania,” Șoșoacă said at the time.

The fiery MEP became known during the pandemic, when she opposed vaccination and mask mandates. She is famous for her pro-Russian positions and was recently interviewed by propaganda channel Russia Today. During the interview, she claimed that Romanian president Nicusor Dan is illegitimate and that Romania became part of the Iran war when it allowed the US to station planes on its territory.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)